BASF launches comprehensive Carpet Portal

DALTON, Ga., February 16, 2001 - BASF will introduce yet another first for the Carpet Industry today with the launch of a new web portal, CarpetProducts. This Internet site is a complete one-stop shopping and technical information platform for both carpet manufacturers and designers.

This new resource, which can be tapped at www.basf.com/carpet, will help mills, designers, specifiers and others involved in the industry to make carpet better by combining BASF's full range of products and expertise into one comprehensive Internet site. BASF is the first supplier to offer such a broad range of products and services combined with a customized on-line electronic-commerce capability to the carpet and design industries.

The combination of this new web portal, CarpetProducts, with the existing myAccount, will boost the customer one-stop shopping approach. The special web application, myAccount, gives customers fast, accurate and secure order placement and information 24 hours a day. Here, customers can place orders, receive information about order status, shipment history and delivery location, as well as view Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for BASF products.

According to Walter Hubbard, Group Vice President Fiber Products, "The creation and launch of this Internet portal is a clear example of how BASF will employ e-commerce to create and capture value for its business partners. Customers will benefit from the new carpet portal because they can go directly to a listing of all BASF's carpet related products and easily find everything under one umbrella, including nylon fibers and polymers, carpet backings, colorants and additives, and wet processing chemicals, as well as sustainability information."

In addition to product selection and applications, CarpetProducts contains a wide array of technical information. Both the Commercial Carpet and Carpet Backings sections provide information about maintenance, cleaning and warranties. Viewers can directly access BASF's technical experts by going to the "Ask the Expert" section.

The Commercial and Residential Carpet sections provide a wealth of information on BASF's Nylon 6ix® nylon yarns. These sections give the details needed to select the right Nylon 6ix for any application. Also, the Commercial Carpet section provides valuable information on technical support, product innovation and environmental responsibility. BASF has dedicated an entire section of CarpetProducts to the 6ix Again® program, the patented technology for recycling carpet fibers.

Additional sections included in CarpetProducts are dedicated to other BASF products used in manufacturing carpet, such as nylon polymers, colorants and additives, wet processing chemicals, carpet backing and adhesives.

BASF Corporation and its subsidiaries is the third largest producer of chemicals and related products in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with sales of $7.2 billion in 1999. Based in Mount Olive, NJ, BASF Corporation is the North American affiliate of BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol BF.

"We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better."® summarizes BASF's diverse product mix including chemicals, polymers, automotive and industrial coatings, colorants, pharmaceuticals, nylon fibers and agricultural products. BASF in North America employs more than 17,000 people at more than 50 locations and has an Internet site at www.basf.com.